World Pu-erh

Brews yellow-amber, slightly bitter, mostly floral in flavor. Aftertaste doesn’t linger too long. Smooth texture; doesn’t dry out my mouth like other sheng. Leaf quality is rather poor: mostly broken bits, doesn’t look handpicked. That said, while there’s nothing great about this tea, there’s nothing wrong with it, either.

Old Dragon Well from floatingleaves.com. Still pretty good even though it’s over a year old. I got 4 decent steeps from it.

Infused in my gaiwan and drank in the bright mid-morning sunlight (only a couple of days of sun before the rain returns – ah, spring in the Pacific Northwest) and sipped the sweetness. I’m so glad I learned to brew this correctly — my first half-dozen tries were wayyyyy to astringent (hint, avoid boiling water, long infusions, or too much leaf).

A nice simple white tea with a rich fruity sweetness. One of the best bai mu dans I’ve ever had, and one of the cheapest ($14 CND/lb)

The sun finally came out, so what better way to celebrate than with a cooling tea, and the first green tea of the year on the market? Although this isn’t the highest grade of dragon well by a long shot (the leaf size and shape is very inconsistent) it’s brisk, fresh, and far sweeter than most dragon wells on the market. Nummy!

I’ve let my basket of liu an age for three years now and it’s a marvelous variant on the pu-erh taste, with more of a nettle-like tingle. Delicious!